The Hunting Partners
by TheHungerGames71
Summary: What happens when Gale and Katniss get stuck in the woods together and Gale's feelings towards Katniss. Mostly romance with some survival. Please rate & review.. Thanks!
1. Chapter 1

"Gale? Gale?" I nervously whispered into the darkness of the woods, our place.

Our get away from the world, where we illegally hunt to keep ourselves and families alive.

I recognize his voice, but I can't tell which direction it is coming from.

"Catnip?" I hear him say, deeper and much louder from my own voice.

We usually don't stray too far from each other in the woods, especially when it gets this late, but this time was different. It was past 8 o'clock, and during the chilly month of November, the sun had set a long time ago.

I hear Gale somewhere behind me, stepping on leaves and twigs on his way towards me. My ankle was throbbing even worse, and it was hard for me to walk around the floor of the woods, with barely any sight of Gale: my hunting partner, my best friend, and confidant.

I limp over to a nearby tree and rest my back against it, continuously calling out my best friend's name. I loose focus off of Gale, and my mind shifts to my hurt ankle. I try to think of anything I remember from how my mother cured others - the countless amount of people who would come into our home for my mothers help - but nothing came to mind. I nervously start thinking about Gale. My ankle was really starting to hurt and some of the pain was spreading to my shin when I moved my foot around.

"_Gale's not going to find you. He's not coming for you. He doesn't care about you_," I think to myself.

Of course he is going to come. Gale. He would never leave me in the woods. That was our job, we have each other's backs, even though his is almost a foot taller than mine. All the girls at school admire him, with his sparking eyes and tall build.

No, the hunter boy was mine and I was his, I protect him and he protects me. That was just the way it was.

Despite my doubts, Gale finds me shortly after my subconscious debate with myself.

"Gale," I murmur.

"Catnip, what happened to you?!" he says with concern as he crouches down next to me, obviously taking in my injury.

"I couldn't find you, Gale. It started getting dark, and I was gathering the berries and you were hunting by the river, I shouldn't have left, I'm sor-" I try to explain, until he cuts me off.

"Katniss, listen," he says with complete seriousness. He brushes away a few loose hairs from my face and tucks them behind my ear. "I should have never left you, okay? I should be apologizing, not you. Now, come on."

Gale quickly scoops me up in his arms and I put my small arms around his neck. I make sure he grabs my bow and arrows that were resting on the ground. He puts them over his shoulder, along with his game bag, and he starts walking towards the hidden concrete house in the woods.

A gust of November wind shakes the trees and leaves, and I rest my head on Gale's chest. His grip tightens around me, pulling me closer to him. Being in his arms makes the pain in my ankle go numb.

The concrete house that we had found a few years ago is farther out into the woods, and my eyes begin to close during our journey. I never completely fall asleep though, because the air was so chilly and the throbbing in my ankle began to start again.

"Are we almost there yet, Gale?" I question, breaking the silence between us.

He thought I was sleeping, and it was cute watching him look down at me as his little injured Catnip.

"How's your ankle?" he responds, completely ignoring my question.

"It's fine," I lied.

I didn't want Gale to have to worry about me, on top of finding this desolate house in our woods.

"Go back to sleep. We'll be there in a few minutes," he commands.

So, following orders from my hunting partner (like a good hunting partner should do) I retreat my head back to the spot on his chest and surprisingly fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Katniss, we're here," he says, waking me up.

I open my eyes just when he opens the door to the small house. He walks inside, and he sits me down on the small wooden chair in front of the fireplace.

"I'm going to get some wood, then I can look at your ankle. I'll be back in a minute, okay Katniss?" he asks.

"Okay, I'll be here," I say.

I quickly take off my father's old leather boots and set them down next to the chair. I keep on my hunting jacket, which also belonged to my father, since the chill in the air was not going to cease. I inspect my throbbing ankle, and I know from stepping on it the wrong way from jumping out of the tree will be a small injury.

Being a hunter, any injury is detrimental to finding prey and actually hunting it down.

A few minutes later, Gale returns from collecting fire wood. He puts it into the fireplace and starts a warm, toasty fire. He helps me down from the chair so sit on the rug in front of the fire.

"So lets see the damage," Gale says.

I show him my ankle, which is now swollen.

"I wish I could wrap it in a bandage or something. It's not that comfortable walking around in my boots," I complain.

I can tell Gale had thought of something, the ways his sharp grey-ish, green eyes lit up could tell anyone he had an idea. He gets up and goes to his bag, where he pulls out a small box.

"Do you remember when your mom would give us these first aid kits, because she was so afraid of us going into the woods?" he asks.

"I can't believe you still have this," I say.

My mother would make small boxes for us to bring in our bags in case we got minor words or injuries. It included things that would hold us over until we came home for her to fix us up.

Gale opens the box carefully and looks around for a bandage. "Bandage, bandage.." he babbles.

He finds it in the mix of Band-Aids, bug creams, and other things packed inside.

"Come here," he says.

"No, it's okay. I can do it myself," I say, holding my hand out for the bandage.

He doesn't give it to me, but says, "Catnip, it's my fault you got hurt. Just let me do it for you."

"No Gale, it's fine. I can do it, really-" yet again he cuts me off.

"No Katniss, it's not okay that I let you get hurt!" he says with a rising voice.

He gets up from the floor, and walks around the room. He faces the window and grips the window sill tightly. "Why won't you just let me do it? When I first met you, we promised each other we would have each other's backs, right? Katniss, I want to be there to protect you, not let you get hurt!"

Before he can say anything else, I say, "Gale, it was only one time. I promise I won't ever get hurt again," I end with a smile on my face, just when he turns around.

"Katniss Everdeen, how am I going to keep you out of trouble?" Gale asks, with a smirk on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, just stay still," Gale says.

The fire begins to die down, and he starts to wrap the bandage around my ankle. He quickly glances at me, but I stare at his hands wrapping the bandage around my injured ankle. His hands, so familiar and strong, the ones that delicately set snares, were once, only once, interlaced with mine.

My mind gets lost in the intricate way he wrapped it around my ankle and I begin to think about when my hands were joined with his.

We were walking down one of the streets of District 12, going towards the Hob. We go into the hustling and bustling black market of the District. We had to meet with Greasy Sae and a friend to trade with, but it was so crowded, and also Christmas Eve. Everyone was trying to bargain trinkets for their children and barter gifts for loved ones.

In one hand was a bag of clothes I was going to trade for Prim and Posy, Gale's little sister, for their Chrismas gifts. I was observing the crowd, and I feel Gale grab my free hand, leading the way, and my heart skips a beat.

"Let's go this way. It's so crowded today," he simply said as his hand had a grip on my own.

My mind returned to reality, and at the moment, Gale's hand had a grip on my ankle.

He tied the bandage and said, "All done, Catnip."

He looked up at me, and he knew it was too late to go back to the fence. The electricty was probably turned on right now, since it was past 9 o'clock. We had a rule with our families that if we were stuck, in case of an emergency, we would stay in the little concrete house until morning, and that someone from either of our families were to come to the gate at noon to make sure we were safe and returning to the District.

"Thanks," I say with a yawn.

I was really tired, and I actually wanted to sleep, unlike an hour ago when Gale was carrying me here.

He pretends to fall asleep, making snoring noises and puts his hands next to his head. He leans his head on my shoulder and I giggle. I had barely laughed all day, but when I'm in the woods with Gale, I am known to crack a smile.

"Time to go to sleep," I say to him, laughing, as I put his head in my lap.

We are both laughing now, and I pretend he is a baby and stroke his hair.

"Go to sleep, you big baby," I joke.

I lean down and kiss his forehead, then his cheeks, then his neck on impulse, not knowing if it was apart of our little act or because I truly wanted to kiss him.

He turns on his back, his head still in my lap.

"Can I have another kiss goodnight?" he innocently asks.

And as a good hunting partner would do, I listen. I lean down and place my lips on his.


	4. Chapter 4

**Gale POV**

"_Did she really just listen to me and kiss me_?" I think to myself.

She had quickly put her soft, small lips on mine and I kissed her back. I sat up, since it was quite difficult to kiss her while I was laying in her lap. I found her hand and took it with mine, gripping it tightly. With my free hand, I grabbed the small of her back, _God, was she skinny,_ and brought her closer to me.

"_Katniss Everdeen is kissing me, and I am kissing her back. My Catnip_," I thought.

I let go of her hand to carefully hold her face, and then she stopped kissing me. _Come on, Gale!_ But, my other hand was still on her small, bony back. I could tell she was cold.

"God Katniss, your freezing!" I said to her as I started to remove my own hunting jacket.

"Gale, I'm fine. Really. I'll just sit by the fire," she answered as she put her hand on my chest.

The fire was dying, so I added some more firewood to keep it going. I sat next to my little Catnip, the one who I let get hurt. I put my arm around her waist. I excepted her to put her head on my shoulder, but she brought her face close to mine. I kissed her first this time, and grabbed it with both of my hands. She wrapped her arms around my back, as a small attempt to keep me warm.

I would have never expected her to kiss me like this, so strong and powerful, but I forced myself to pull my lips off of hers. I gently placed my lips on her nose and brought her close to me.

She fell asleep instantly and I held her tight until morning.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up to find myself lying on the ground of the small concrete house with Gale's arms around me. Apparently, he had placed his hunting jacket over me in the night. I was comfortable and he was so cute when he slept, so I didn't have the heart to move.

"Hi, Catnip," he greeted me a few minutes later.

I found him glaring at me with a smile but still next to me.

"Hi, Hawthorne," I say.

We both look at each other and laugh, only a connection I could have with Gale and no one else in my world.

"How did you sleep?" he asks me.

"Good, I guess. Thanks for the little blanket," I respond with a goofy smile.

"Katniss, you were practically shaking! I was so scared!" he says.

"Gale Hawthorne, SCARED?" I said with a shocked look on my face.

"Maybe a little," he says, then quickly kissing me on the forehead.

"I think we should get going, we want to get back by noon if we don't want our mothers to have heart attacks," Gale says.

He puts out his hand for me to grab, and he pulls me up.

"How is your ankle feeling, Catnip?" he asks as he puts he arm around my waist.

"A little better. Well, much better compared to yesterday. I'm sure I just have to stay off of it for a while," I say truthfully.

"So does that mean I have to carry you around everywhere?" he says with a laugh.

"Hmmm... Maybe! I could make you bring me thing and you can do whatever I want," I say jokingly.

"Well, if you really want me to, I will," Gale says. He looks down at me and smiles.

"Do we really have to go back?" he asks, glaring our the small window.

"Gale, would you ever live in the woods? Seriously?" I ask curiously.

"Only if you were to come with me. And maybe Prim, and Posy, and our mothers, and my brothers... But for right now, I think we should stay in the District, okay?" Gale answers.

"So you've thought about it before?!" I say with the biggest smile I could manage.

"Yes, I have, Katniss," he says truthfully.

He tilts my chin up towards him and leans in to kiss me. I stand up on my tip toes, but before our lips could meet, we were startled with a loud, snapping noise from outside the house, followed by another, and another. Gale could sense I was scared, so he put his arm around me, and I moved in closer to him and away from the window.

"What is that?" I look up at Gale and whisper to him.

"I don't know. Stay here," he orders as he let go of me.

I let him go outside, but then I sneak out and follow him, careful of my bad ankle and ignoring his request like a bad hunting partner would do.

I watch Gale from the side of the house walk around the patch of trees surrounding us. I feel something, or someone, hit my shoulder. I turn around, and it wasn't Gale.

***I do not own The Hunger Games and I am not affiliated with them in any way***

How do you like the story so far? Rate and review, thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

What I saw might as well have been Gale.

It was Vick, his 14 year old brother, who is a spitting image of Gale. His hair was dark brown and had the same grey-ish/green eyes as him. It was scary how much they looked alike.

As soon as I felt something on my back, I screamed on impulse. I could hear Gale running in the woods, back to me in the little house.

"Katniss? Catnip, are you okay?" I heard him asking.

I nearly fainted I was so scared, but Vick put his arm around my waist, the same way Gale does.

Gale arrived no longer than 10 seconds later, about to scream and yell at Vick.

"What are you doing here?!" he questioned.

"Gale, mom and Ms. Everdeen were getting nervous! I just came out to see if you guys were still alive! Kill me for being a good brother!" Vick said angrily, then turned around and started walking around the woods.

"Are you crazy?! You could have gotten caught and even killed! It's not even noon yet, we were going to heard back as soon as we could!" Gale replied.

"What, did you want all of this to happen so that you and CATNIP could be alone in the woods? Gale and Catnip, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I," Vick jokes as he turns around to face him, but Gale cuts him off.

"That's enough Vick. Are you ready to go, Katniss?" he asks me.

"Yeah, let's get going," I respond.

I didn't want to stay in the woods any longer because Gale and Vick were quite loud, and who knows if anyone heard.

As we gathered everything to leave, Gale cooks up some squirrel from the night before. I had just realized I haven't eaten since noon the day before, but I haven't been hungry at all.

After we finish our breakfast, Vick carries my bow and arrows and Gale's bag. I start to walk on both of my feet, starting off towards the fence.

My ankle starts to pound again as I put pressure on it, and I exclaim a small cry of pain.

"Up you go, Catnip," Gale yet again grabs me in his arms.

I need to stop being responsible for owing everyone for their actions.

"I'm gunna tell mom, you know," Vick states, as if our mothers hadn't known Gale and I were destined for each other.

Countless hours spent together in the woods doesn't add up to a big fat nothing, and practically everyone in District 12 knew how to put two and two together.


	7. Chapter 7

**Gale POV**

We eventually reach the gate, and we start walking towards the our house, which isn't far from the Everdeen's. I could tell Katniss felt bad that I had to carry her to her house because of her hurt ankle. She's a very independent person and likes to do things herself, and right now, walking is one thing she can't do on her own.

I just feel like I owe her so much since it was my fault she got hurt in the first place.

We reach their house, and Vick goes in first and puts our hunting things down on a nearby chair.

"Oh, Katniss!" my mother exclaims and pulls her into a hug. "What happened to you?! Are you and Gale alright? Are you hurt?!"

"It's nice to see you too, Hazelle," she responds with a smile, then explains how she hurt her ankle.

"Gale!" Prim yells and runs up to me for a hug.

"Hey, Prim!" I respond, and lift her up into the air. She laughs and I put her back down onto the ground.

"Are you and Katniss alright?" she questions with a seriously look on her face - as serious as it can get for a 12 year old.

"I'm fine, but Katniss isn't. Well, her ankle isn't. Will you promise to take good care of her for me while I'm at work?" I kneel down so I can talk to her at eye level.

With the new arrangements at work, I have to come in 6 days a week, sometimes staying down in the mines for 12 hour days. That means I'd only be able to see Catnip on Sundays, so I needed Prim to watch over her. Their mom would go in and out of these "phases", and it was unpredictable on how she would act some days.

I can remember when our fathers passed away, and all we had was each other to keep each other strong.

Once everyone says their "hello's" and "are you alright's", including Posy, we all sit down to have dinner at our house. Wild turkey and parsnips.

After dinner, my four-year-old sister comes over to me and sits on my lap. Katniss was playing a card game with Prim, my mother, and her mother.

"Galey! Galey!" she yells as she puts her little arms around my neck.

Just like Rory, Vick and myself she has the typical Seam eyes, except her dark hair is long and wavy.

"Hi, Posy!" I say back to her.

"Are you and Kat-niss gunna get farried? 'Cause I like her a lot," she asks innocently.

"You mean married, Posy?" I correct her with a smile on my face.

She nods her head in response.

"Maybe. But I like her a lot too," I answer.

Would I ever marry Katniss? She always said she never wanted kids, but maybe she would give in to getting married. Catnip said she never wanted to have kids because she would never want them to be put in an arena for The Capitol's entertainment, but what if there were no Hunger Games?

I remember our conversation from earlier:

"_Gale, would you ever live in the woods? Seriously?_" she asked with a curious smirk.

"_Only if you were to come with me. And maybe Prim, and Posy, and our mothers, and my brothers... But for right now, I think we should stay in the District, okay?_" I replied.

"_So you've thought about it before?!_" she answered, with a huge smile, looking genuinely happy.

All I wanted to do was make Katniss happy and see the rare smile she only shares with me and Prim.

"_Yes, I have, Katniss_," I confess.

I've thought about it so many times. It was a solution to getting away from the District and the cruelty of the Hunger Games, but would it be something romantic as well? How could it be if we took along our families, but how could we leave them behind?

I also remembered how when she woke up she looked at me in a way she had never looked at me before, as if I was something more than just her hunting partner.

I was someone who made her happy and put a smile on her face, but did she love me? I know I love her.


	8. Chapter 8

**GALE POV**

_"Hello, I'm Hazelle," my mother introduced herself with any trace of a smile she could manage. "And this is Vick, he's 5. And Rory's 7. Where's Gale? Gale, come over here and introduce yourself."_

_All of the girls from school had been "so sorry" for my father's death. They were surrounded around me, asking if I ever needed anyone to talk to, they would be there. Sure. _

_I quickly ran over to where my mother and siblings were standing. She was talking to one of the other families who lost someone in the accident. There was the extremely distraught mother with piercing blue eyes, a small, underfed blonde child, and an angry, upset older sister with a long dark braid that wrapped around the side of her head and down her back. _

_"Gale here, the little troublemaker, he's 13," I didn't really look like I was 13, since I was much taller than everyone else my age. The girl with the braid looked surprised._

_"I'm Dawn, and this is little Prim. She's 7, too," their mother said. She honestly looked like she was 5 years old, she was so small. She said a small "hi" to Rory. _

_The girl with the braid ran away before her mother could introduce her, behind one of the buildings in the town square. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. I excused myself to make it seem as if I was going to talk to the other girls, but I walked down the alleyway where the girl was going and followed her. _

_"Are you okay?" I asked with a hint of concern in my voice._

_"No, I'm not okay! My father was just blown to pieces! How can I be okay? Tell me that!" she answered angrily. We were behind a building now, and she was leaning against it._

_"Trust me, everything's going to be okay. My father was killed, too, alright? Do you know how angry I am, too?! You can't even imagine!" I yelled. _

_Okay, that was a little harsh. _

_"What's your name?" I asked. She mumbled something that sounded like Catnip._

_"Catnip? That's a funny name. I'm Gale. I think I've seen you at school before," I tried to make small talk because she just kept on crying._

_What she did next took me by surprise. She walked up to me and said, "I'm sorry about your dad." _

_"Me too. It's going to be okay, trust me. Okay? It can only get better."_

_She then ran away, embarrassed. I wasn't long before I would run into Catnip again in the woods, at my house with her family, at The Hob, at school; everywhere. We became close. It was a while until I actually because friends with this stubborn, strong-willed girl. Then we were hunting partners. Now, she is my wife-to-be, my fiancee, and my confidant. My best friend._


End file.
